In Alcalá de Henares has been uncovered beneath the Plaza de Cervantes the city’s largest known air-raid shelter has been uncovered. According to the excavation team and the town council, the Refugio antiaéreo is to open to visitors once it has been secured and made accessible. The current state of the work and the planned use were made public on 19 August 2026.
The structure was built during the Guerra Civil and could accommodate up to 1,000 people. Archaeological findings suggest that material from the ruins of the nearby Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor was reused. Sections of wall and flights of steps are visible, which researchers say are linked to the church complex; according to them, the northern entrance staircase is made up of steps from the former high altar and fragments of a medieval sepulchre from the vicinity of the Capilla del Oidor . The excavation team also stresses that these attributions are based on the evidence found on site and must be corroborated through further analysis of the records and laboratory work.
“Many people said they knew the shelter, but their recollections were distorted” – the team led by Luis Antonio Ruiz Casero, head of the archaeological work, points to this discrepancy between local accounts and the physical evidence. The newly uncovered stratigraphy allows individual construction phases to be dated more precisely and makes the interventions during the war years easier to understand. The finds also recast the role of Plaza de Cervantes as a central urban space that served as a shelter during the bombing.
The Ayuntamiento de Alcalá de Henares is developing a plan for conservation, safety and interpretation, according to the council. The aim is to open the site as a museum, linking the underground structure with the memorial space above ground. This includes the Capilla del Oidor, where the baptismal font is displayed, in which Miguel de Cervantes was baptised on 9 October 1547. The site’s known historical links to the church and chapel are considered established; the exact origin of individual stones incorporated into the structure remains under investigation.
A specific opening date for visitors has yet to be announced. Detailed finds lists and full technical reports have not yet been made public. What is clear, however, is that the excavation links material traces of the Guerra Civil with the city’s history and lays the groundwork for presenting the Refugio antiaéreo as part of Alcalá de Henares’s cultural heritage—without pre-empting the scientific examination of the findings.
Editor: Celestina Fuentes (Article created with AI assistance).